My Strawberry Finch

[laurab]

Hiya

weather has been really bad, so once again I have been sitting in my aviary, in the warm and dry with my camera.

If I stay indoors I feel compelled to do the housework.

[Waxbillman]

amazing cock avadavat you have there Laura, stunning bird, get them breeding!!

Matthew

[Strawblady2000]

Stunning??? I agree tenfold!!!!

Beautiful berry, Laura!!!!!!

[Ladywolf]

Laura, what species of Strawberry do you have? Mine doesn't color up near as much as yours...yes he is very, very handsome. My Strawberry is already coming out of color which I find strange....maybe he knows something I don't.

Roxie

[laurab]

You've got me there Roxie, I din't know there are different types.

Maybe Matthew will know.

[Ladywolf]

Matthew, What species of Strawberry do you have over there across the pond? I remember you told me mine but what is Laura's???? Hers looks bigger and more full.

Roxie

[Strawblady2000]

Hi Roxie,

That is exactly what I was thinking...scale is hard to tell in photos, but he does seem bigger and definately fuller.

Mine in comparison are much thinner.

Matthew just talked about the sub-species. Sometimes similar subspecies can look a bit different too. They are listed in the waxbill forum under the thread "banding waxbills" or something like that.

This guy is a beauty, though, isnt he? He just looks so hearty. My berries are about the size of my thumb not including their tails. It will be challenging next week, as Im expecting fledgies. Their bars are a little big so Im expecting escapees, hopefully without injury. Not sure how I'll tackle it yet. Had a problem with even the 3/8 spacing...the chicks could get about halfway through when they first fledged.

Also, Im still working on that thread for breeding journals...it's just proving to be SO long. I've been writing segments and PM'ing them to myself, lol. My Wordperfect isnt very reliable, so this is the best way to work on it...especially when I'm away from home.

Anyways...I too am wondering which strawberry this is. Do all of the ones y'all keep look like this?????

[laurab]

Hiya

I will try to photograph him alongside another bird at the weekend for scale.....trouble is he is camera shy; I waited over an hour to take the one uploaded!

[Strawblady2000]

LOL, yes, they are shy, arent they? Mine seem like they will have a heart attack when I try to photo them.

DOnt trouble yourself! A rough idea of measurement would be just fine. He just looks SOOOOOO beautiful!!!!!

I think it is US that have the different ones. The wild pics I've seen look very much like yours. Mine really look nothing like those.

I wish I could take a clear photo to show.

Here is the best I can do...mine look like the ones on this page, but not the top picture.
http://www.finchinfo.com/species/strawberry.htm

[laurab]

You have mentioned in the past about the cock bird moulting and then resembling the hen.......mine has moulted, but never lost his colouring.

[Waxbillman]

you ansered the questions there Nikki

the most common sub-species available in British aviculture is amandava amandava, the nominate race, i think thats what Laura got, then the amandava punicea - the smaller one, there is very few of the 3rd sub-species amandava flavidiventris, and to my knowdledge only a cock bird that i have, thats the only one i've seen, probabily some knocking about.

now Laura there is reasons that i have read with regard to why he stays in colour

reason 1, he is an old bird
reason 2 he is stonking fit, in condition, Kingston writes when kept at a high temperature they conitually moult out into the breeding plumage.
having seen the bird myself he is the latter, he looks like he has plenty of go in him, though if i remember rightly you said he was an import, therefore he'll be at his peak now.

Matthew

[Strawblady2000]

That's right Laura. I remember a sort of recent post that talked about your male.

The pics on the link above show males that are either in molt or do not have all of their coloring. Sometimes, a male will not color out all the way, but will still be considered in breeding plummage, as he molted, but just not all color came in. Sometimes first and even second molts are this way.

Some males do not lose all of their red during eclipse...just most of it. Sexing is still easy as some red is retained. But there are others that look nearly identical to the hen when in eclipse. I talked to a breeder in Arkansas and their males are only without red until their first molt...then they always retain SOME distinguishing coloration apart from the hens.

As to why yours does not change color with molt, do you think it may be an age factor? He is obviously healthy, lol, and his plummage really shows it. Also, Matthew wrote something recently about how lighting was used to bring extremely bright plummage and I may have misread it, but the males kept getting brighter and brighter as opposed to going into the dull eclipse plummage. It's posted on here, but I cant remember which thread it was in. I believe it is in the waxbill forum, though.

edited to add that: okay, so it wasnt lighting...it was temp. But it had the same effect regarding constant breeding plummage molts.

[harry]

Hiya Laura
from your photo it look's like one of the subspecie's,Amandava Punicea,brighter red
colouring,smaller and less white spot's and no black mark from the eye too the gape

Harry

[Strawblady2000]

LOL, you beat me to it Matthew!!

:lol:

[harry]

Sorry Matt ,but Laura's bird ain't the nominate specie's,brighter colour,less
smaller spot's and no gape mark

Harry

[Waxbillman]

so it would seem Harry,

Matthew